University Support

Anonymous Donor Gives $10 Million In Land to Cal Poly

The California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo College of Agriculture, Food & Environmental Sciences received an anonymous bequest commitment of land valued at $10 million.

The incredible gift ensures that the land, located in California, remains as a working ranch that will support the university’s unique
Learn by Doing opportunities for countless Cal Poly San Luis Obispo students.

Vinology and Generosity

With construction underway on the new home for the
Wine Business Institute at Sonoma State University, a $200,000 gift from Roy and Rachael Cecchetti – founders of Cecchetti Wine Company – will help bolster and support the new
Wine Spectator Learning Center, which will be located in the institute’s new facility.

The Cecchetti family’s generosity to Sonoma State will be recognized in the
Roy and Rachael Cecchetti Campus Lawns Stairway, which will connect the new building with existing lawns and international-themed gardens adjacent to the campus lakes. Roy Cecchetti earned his MBA degree at Sonoma State in 1989 and was recently appointed to the Wine Business Institute board of directors.

Long Beach State Alumna Works to Increase Student-Alumni Connections

California State University, Long Beach alumna Kathleen Reams Hansen committed an additional $400,000 to the new
Alumni and Visitor Center to help fund construction, strengthen connections among current and former students, and inspire higher levels of alumni and community engagement.

Campaign for Channel Islands Surpasses Goal

California State University Channel Islands recently completed its two-year
Campaign for CI – the university’s first comprehensive campaign in its history. Focusing on several initiatives critical to student and university success, CSU Channel Islands surpassed its $10 million goal in gifts and gift commitments.

Engaging Today, Transforming Tomorrow

As part of the university’s initial phase of its
Transform Tomorrow comprehensive campaign, California State University, Chico launched its first annual leadership giving society, the
Tower Society, to reengage, energize, and recognize Wildcat alumni, parents, and friends. In its inaugural year, 479 members contributed $3.9 million to support areas across the university.

To harness the affinity of recent alumni, CSU Chico created a
Graduate of the Last Decade (GOLD) membership level. To date, 187 GOLD members have contributed nearly $53,000 to the university.

Inspired by the
Tower Society, CSU Chico students launched the university’s first
Student Philanthropy Council, growing the number of student donors from 39 in 2014-2015 to almost 1,800 in 2015-2016.

The Power of Volunteerism

Volunteerism defined the philanthropic year for California State University, Stanislaus. The university’s foundation board and members of the alumni council – which includes a
Who’s Who of regional business and civic leaders – contributed over $500,000 to Stanislaus State to improve the student experience, enhance the academic environment, and grow an educated workforce.

Forward Together

California State University San Marcos publicly launched its first comprehensive campaign,
Forward Together, in September 2015 with the ambitious campaign goal to further fuel the university’s commitment to preparing tomorrow’s leaders, building great communities and solving society’s critical issues.

A bold initiative for a campus less than three decades old, Forward Together has raised more than $30 million to date, over 60 percent of the $50 million goal.

The family of Janet R. ‘Jean’ Kellogg continued her generous and faithful support of CSU San Marcos with an estate gift of $500,000 to fund library programming and outreach, the establishment of the
CSUSM Veterans Center, laboratory equipment for undergraduate research, and the creation of a new state-of-the-art digital piano lab.

The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians – supporters of several CSU campuses – awarded a $500,000 grant to the
California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center at CSU San Marcos to support research and efforts to preserve the heritage of Californian Indians.

The California Healthcare Foundation, one of the founding supporters that helped launch the
CSU Institute for Palliative Care, located at CSUSM, gave $500,000 to expand the palliative care workforce in California, along with a $150,000 grant to fund the development of a palliative care-focused curriculum.

Breaking Records in Aztec Country

San Diego State University recently celebrated its eighth consecutive year of record fundraising, adding an additional $107 million led by planned gifts and endowments to the Campaign for SDSU in 2015-2016. All told, San Diego State is quickly approaching its $750 million goal set for the first comprehensive campaign in the university’s nearly 120-year history.

The massive success of this year’s campaign is highlighted by the creation of
SDSU Strive, the university’s first crowdfunding platform.
SDSU Strive raised more than $80,000 for 41 different projects, including the university’s Mount Laguna Observatory and the Joan and Art Barron Veterans Center.

Gifts directed in 2015-2016 to the
Campaign for SDSU will benefit endowments supporting scholarships, new faculty positions, entrepreneurship initiatives, athletics and the Pride Center. Faculty and staff giving was a major impetus of this year’s success – and the student- and alumni-powered Aztec Proud initiative created powerful and long-lasting connections between the university, future and current alumni, and a proud culture of philanthropy.

Power of A Thousand Hornets

California State University, Sacramento recently launched an innovative crowdfunding campaign –
The Power of 1,000 Hornets – to encourage 1,000 alumni to donate towards the future construction of a much-needed events center on campus that would serve as a hub for athletic, entertainment and academic events.

To date, 137 alumni donors have contributed nearly $990,000, including a $750,000 commitment from philanthropist Ernest Tschannen, who was personally moved to support this communitywide grassroots effort.

A Lifetime of Coyote Pride

If the spirit of
Coyote Pride was embued in human form, it would have undoubtedly been exhibited in businessman, philanthropist, and California State University, San Bernardino champion, Jack H. Brown.

As chairman, president and CEO of Stater Bros. Markets, Jack Brown made several major gifts to CSUSB over the last three decades, including a gift in 1992 to fund the business and administration building that now bears his name, Jack H. Brown Hall.

Beyond his incredible support to the university, Brown – who passed away in November 2016 – was known for his infinite generosity, strong character and deep loyalty to the Inland Empire and Southern California. In 2005, CSUSB honored Brown’s legacy of giving and his commitment to education in the Inland Empire with an honorary doctorate of humane letters.

This past year, CSUSB renamed its college housed in Jack H. Brown Hall as the Jack H. Brown College of Business and Public Administration, celebrating a generous $10 million legacy gift from Jack Brown to fund new programs, supplement research, facilitate student enrichment, and attract and retain world-class faculty.

The gift from Jack Brown also marked the largest single cash donation in the university’s five-decade-plus history, as well as the first time a CSUSB college has been named after an individual.